German politician's obligatory pork plan sparks backlash

The regional branch of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) called on the state government to ensure that pork continues to be on menus at public canteens as well as schools and child daycare centers across the north German state of Schleswig-Holstein, the Deutsche Welle reported.

CDU parliamentary group leader, Daniel Günther, said eating pork is a part of German culture and claimed that more and more canteens, schools nurseries remove pork from their menus due to religious considerations. The Deutsche Welle cited Günther as saying that no one should be obliged to eat pork, but the majority should not have to refrain from pork.

Even though the CDU said they do not want to make pork obligatory, many took to social media to mock Günther's suggestion. The Local cited Green Party deputy Konstantin von Notz who wrote "No, it's not the first of April" on Twitter. Similarly, the Deutsche Welle reported that the hashtag #schweinefleischpflicht - meaning "pork duty" – became the country's top trending hashtag on Tuesday and many users met the remarks with a wave of mockery. On January, Randers City Council in central Denmark voted 16-15 to ensure municipal institutions such as nurseries provided "Danish food culture as a central part of the offering – including serving pork on an equal footing with other foods." According to research by Pew in November 2015, around 4.8 million Muslims live in Germany.